Report of the gods of ancient Greece. The sun god in ancient egypt A message on the topic of the Egyptian gods

The ancients lived in close connection with nature. Not surprisingly, the life-giving Sun was the central object of their worship. In the cults of different parts of the world, the solar gods were deeply revered and exalted. They were coaxed with offerings, holidays were held in their honor and they were asked for patronage.

God Ra - protector from the forces of darkness

In Egyptian myths, the sun god Ra is the father and ruler of the world. During the day, sailing along the heavenly Nile, Ra carefully sends his warmth to the earth. And with the advent of night, he goes to the underworld, where he fights against the advancing darkness, illuminating the underworld. All night Ra fights against the forces of darkness. In the underworld, he meets his main enemy - the serpent Apophis, who is trying to swallow the Sun so that the world plunges into eternal darkness. By morning, Ra kills Apophis, and with it dawn comes.

God Ra sails on his boat across the heavenly Ocean of the goddess Nut

world creation

According to myths, the god Amon-Ra, as he was also called during the New Kingdom, has always existed. Long before the creation of the world, he lived in the space of the ocean Nun, which the ancient Egyptians likened to an egg. The god of the Sun marked his exit beyond Nun with an act of creation.

According to the myth, the god Amon-Ra came out of the abyss of Nun and created the world with his will alone. Then he created wind and moisture from himself, and from them came the earth and sky. So four elements appeared in the images of two divine couples: Shu and Tefnut, Hebe and Nut. It was believed that the god Amon-Ra and his descendants were the first pharaohs of Egypt.

Earth god Geb (bottom) and sky goddess Nut (top). Papyrus.

Symbolic image of Ra

The sun god Ra was depicted with a falcon's head crowned with a red disk. In one hand he holds an ankh - an Egyptian cross, symbolizing eternal life and rebirth; in the other - a scepter - a symbol of divine power. Also in the mythology of Egypt, Ra sometimes takes the form of a phoenix rising from the ashes. Like a fiery bird, in the evening Ra fades away in the west, in order to be reborn in the east in the morning.

The solar disk above the head of the god Ra is his fiery Eye of retribution. The Eye of Ra protects him from numerous enemies and subjugates the recalcitrant to his will. The eye of Ra is also the personification of the destructive side of fire and a reminder of the dual nature of things. The creative power of light can turn into scorching rays of heat. And what was previously the source of life will become the cause of death.

Once, when the god Ra was already very old, people stopped obeying him. And angry with the people, he turned his sunny Eye into the ferocious lioness Sekhmet. In the name of retribution, Sekhmet began to destroy everything in her path in a rage, beating and killing people. Seeing this, Ra was horrified, and decided to stop Sekhmet by tricking her into drinking beer dyed the color of blood.

Bas-relief depicting Isis (right) and Sekhmet (left)

The sun god Ra appears in ancient myths in the form of his various incarnations. Ra Himself is the daytime Sun. The evening Sun was called Atum, which also corresponds to the name of the more archaic god Atum, who was popular in earlier Egyptian times. The morning sun was called Khepri, which means "scarab" - ancient symbol rebirth. And in the fight with the serpent Apophis, the god Ra fights in the form of a fiery red cat.

The god Ra in the form of a cat defeats the serpent Apep (on the right). papyrus ani

Departure of the god Ra from the human world

According to the myths of ancient Egypt, upset by the disobedience of people, the sun god Ra decided to leave earthly world. Upon learning of this, people repented and came to see Ra off. They gave him the word to fight against his enemies and honor his memory. After that, Ra climbed onto the back of the Heavenly Cow to continue to rule the world from there. And earthly power passed into the hands of his children.

The ancient Egyptian religion is a system of beliefs and rituals that were an integral part of the life of the ancient Egyptians. Their beliefs and rituals were based on the worship of gods and goddesses, representing natural phenomena and forces. The Egyptians made offerings to their deities, as they believed that this helps to maintain the divine order: truth, justice, harmony, morality. The pharaoh was considered the representative of the gods. He was empowered to oversee the maintenance of the divine order.

The characteristics of the Egyptian gods were expressed in myths and art. The gods had their own hierarchy and different relationships among themselves. The supreme deity, according to the Egyptians, was the creator of the world. It was believed that the gods are present in all spheres of human life, able to influence the course and order of things in human life. The relationship of people with their gods was a fundamental part of Egyptian society. They prayed, appealed to their action, asked for advice, performed rituals and offerings. According to Egyptologists (scholars who study ancient Egyptian history), there were about 1,500 deities.

Major gods

Amon was presented in human form, sometimes with a ram's head. His name meant "hidden". He was the supreme deity, the god of the sun, the patron of the city of Thebes.

Apis was considered the god of fertility, depicted as a bull with a disk of the sun, the patron saint of Memphis. Of all the animal deities, the bull was the most respected.

Astarte - the goddess of fertility and love, symbolized feminine qualities.

Aten is the god who personified the solar disk. During the time of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, he was recognized as a single deity throughout Egypt. Also at this time it was forbidden to worship other gods.

Anubis is a god with a human body and the head of a jackal. It was believed that Anubis accompanied the dead to another world.

Geb is the son of the god of air, the god of earth. It was believed that water comes from this deity and all the plants that people need grow on it. He also protected people from snakes.

Horus is a god with a human body and a falcon's head, the patron of the sky and the sun.

Isis is the goddess of motherhood, one of the main goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon of gods. She was the patroness of slaves and the oppressed.

Osiris was the judge in the afterlife. He was the god of natural forces and the world of the dead. It was believed that it was Osiris who taught man the arts, agriculture and sciences.

Option 2

The ancient Egyptians worshiped a huge number of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. Some of them were very similar to people; however, others consisted of human and animal parts. Therefore, some Egyptian gods looked like crocodiles, jackals, cats, rams, and even falcons.

The bodies of these ancient gods were always human, but their heads could be part of a bird and an animal.

Although most religions now worship only one god, the ancient Egyptians worshiped many gods. This phenomenon is called polytheism.

The religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians were based on an extraordinary number of ancient Egyptian gods and Egyptian goddesses. The characteristics and appearance of some ancient deities closely resembled humans. However, some of the deities were perceived as "human hybrids", taking the form and characteristics of animals such as the crocodile, jackal, falcon. The bodies of these ancient deities were human, but their heads looked the same as those of birds or animals.

Major ancientegyptian gods

Ra was the sun god and head of the ancient Egyptian divine pantheon. Ra was depicted as a man with a hawk's head and a headdress in the form of a solar disk. At some point, Ra was combined with another god, Amon, to create an even more powerful god, Amon-Ra. It was one of the first religious reforms in the history of human civilization, when Pharaoh Amenhotep decided to abolish the entire pantheon of ancient Egyptian gods and worship only the god Amun-Ra. It was believed that Ra created all forms of life and was the supreme ruler of the gods.

Osiris was also one of the main ancient deities whose role was in guiding the underworld. He was the judge of the dead.

Set was the personification of Egyptian evil and darkness. This god was the most terrible among the ancient Egyptian gods, since he killed his brother Osiris.

Ancient egyptian goddess Isis, the mother goddess, was the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus, who assisted in the resurrection of Osiris.

One of the most famous deities, the patron of the animal kingdom, was the half-ibis god That. He also patronized scribes, writers and scholars and inventors of hieroglyphs.

Anubis, the god of the jackal, was perhaps one of the most famous ancient deities, as he was the god of the dead, in charge of tombs and embalming.

Another of the famous half-animal demigods was the god of strength and power. Sobek, half crocodile.

Magic surrounded the Egyptian gods, and Hake He was the god of magic and medicine. Heka was the son Khnuma, god of fertility.

The scarab was significant symbol in ancient Egypt, and one of the deities Khepri, was depicted with the head of a scarab.

Many pharaohs built large temples in honor of the gods, whom they considered their patrons. These temples had large statues of deities and the pharaoh, gardens, altars and places of worship. Each city had temples to the patron gods of that particular city.

Some famous temples include the Temple of Luxor, the Temple of Isis at Philae, the Temple of Horus and Edfu, the Temples of Ramsey and Nefertiti at Abu Simbel, and the Temple of Amun at Karnak.

The ancient Egyptians considered the pharaoh their main intermediary between them and the gods. The pharaoh was considered more important than the priests in the temples. At the same time, people believed that the pharaoh was so closely associated with the god Horus that he could sometimes take his form. Later, the pharaohs approved the belief among the people, according to which they are the children of the gods.

The ancient Egyptians believed that there was an afterlife after death. They thought that humans had two important components of the soul and body: "ka" or life force, which represented the body, and "ba", which was more like the soul. If “ka” and “ba” could be combined in the afterlife, then a person will exist in afterlife. A key component of this was the preservation of the body for the afterlife. This is why the Egyptians used embalming or mummification to preserve the dead. But it was not a cheap pleasure and only wealthy people could afford it. To preserve their embalmed body, the pharaohs erected huge pyramid tombs. Pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops is the only one preserved in modern world wonder of the world.

Even if the great space distinguished them…”

Homer "The Odyssey"
Subject: "Gods in Ancient Greece".
Cause, which served to write the work, was the desire to acquaint others with the ancient Greek gods - the main personifications of nature.
Relevance this topic has disappeared in our days, only a few of us are interested in the gods of this ancient culture.
aim The abstract is to show the essence of famous gods and prove that these mythical creatures can be interesting.
Object of study- Ancient Greek gods. These creatures can be called the embodiment of the forces of nature and the guardians of the ancient sciences and arts. They are the defenders of harmony and law in nature, punishing people for their misdeeds and sins.
Tasks:

To uncover characteristics of gods and goddesses.
trace powerful forces present in the images of the supernatural beings in question.
Define the role of the gods in human life and the whole world.

Myth

What is a myth? In the "school understanding" - these are, first of all, ancient, biblical and other old "tales" about the creation of the world and man, as well as stories about the deeds of the ancient, mainly Greek and Roman gods and heroes - poetic, naive, often bizarre. The very word "myth" is Greek and means tradition, legend. Up to the 19th century in Europe, only ancient myths were most common - the stories of the ancient Greeks and Romans about their gods, heroes and other fantastic creatures. Especially widely the names of ancient gods and heroes and stories about them became known from the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries), when interest in antiquity revived in European countries. Around the same time, the first information about the myths of the Arabs and American Indians penetrates into Europe. In an educated society, it became fashionable to use the names of the ancient gods in an allegorical sense: saying “Mars” meant war, “Venus” meant love, “Minerva” meant wisdom, and “muses” meant various sciences and arts. Such word usage has survived to this day, in particular in the poetic language, which has absorbed many mythological societies.
The variety of myths is very large. All of them are interesting in their own way, but the most famous are ancient Greek myths. Consider the gods present in the mythology of Ancient Greece. Gods as powerful supernatural beings are the main characters of most myths in the so-called developed mythologies.
The myths of the ancient Greeks say: in the beginning there was nothing but eternal Chaos.
Chaos in Greek means "yawn", "yawning", "unfolded space", "abyss". Gaia has already arisen from it - Earth, Tartarus, Eros, Night and Erebus - the fundamental principles of life. The Orphic poets brought Chaos closer to the world egg, the source of life. Late antiquity identifies CHAOS with Hades. Ovid represents Chaos as a rough and formless matter, where land and air, heat and cold, hard and soft mixed. Chaos is both a life-giving and annihilating force. It is infinite in time and space. From Chaos also came the world and the immortal gods.

Gods and Goddesses

Of course, there were quite a few gods and goddesses in Ancient Greece, and it is not possible to count and consider all of them, but you can get to know some of them. The first of the gods reigned Uranus-sky.

Uranus

Uranus was the husband of Gaia, the goddess of the earth. Uranus gave birth to Gaia, and then, having entered into marriage with him, gave birth to Cyclopes, Hekatoncheirs and Titans. Uranus, at first sight, hated his monster children, imprisoned them in the bowels of the earth "and enjoyed his villainy." Gaia was burdened by her time, and she persuaded the children to punish their father; for this she gave them a weapon - a sickle. The youngest of the children castrated his father with a sickle and imprisoned him in tartar. From the blood of Uranus, poured onto the earth, giants, erinnias and shallows were born. Uranus and Gaia are the first, the most ancient generation gods. It was they who laid the foundation for the kind of monsters that later, classical gods and many generations of heroes had to fight with.
Power from Uranus was taken away by his son Kron, the same one who castrated and imprisoned his father in tartar. According to legend, the time of his reign was the Golden Age, when people did not know labor and death.

Cron

Kronos or Kronos married his sister Rhea and, fearing the fate predicted for him to be overthrown by his son, he swallowed all his children. When the youngest son, Zeus, was born, Rhea deceived her husband and let him swallow a stone wrapped in a diaper, and hid Zeus on the island of Crete. Having matured, Zeus forced Krona to return all the children he had swallowed, giving him a magic drink, and overthrew himself and threw him into tartar.
The name Kronos is similar to the Greek "chronos" - "time". He is depicted with an ominous scythe in crayfish - perhaps the sickle with which he committed an "unholy deed" over his father turned into it.
After the death of Cronus, there was a great struggle for the power of the titans and the Olympian gods. When the Olympians defeated the titans, it meant victory for the power of reason, order and harmony. Zeus, Hades and Poseidon are three brothers who shared the supreme power over the world. Zeus got Olympus and became known as Olympus, or Thessaolian, personifying only a bright, life-giving force. Hades settled in his underground possessions, and Poseidon received the sea, after which he settled in the underwater golden palace in Aegah, leaving Olympus.

Zeus and his wife

Zeus is a primordially Greek deity, his name means "bright sky"; associate his name with the Greek words "life", "irrigation", "that through which everything exists."
At first, Zeus was thought to be the ruler of both the living and the dead, he judged the dead and combined the beginning of life and death in himself. This archaic deity was called Chthonius - underground and was worshiped in Karinth.
Zeus is afraid of the fate of the overthrown Uranus and Kron, and when Gaia foreshadows the birth of a stronger son than he, he swallows his first wife Metis (a wise goddess, her name means "thought") to prevent this from happening. Metis, absorbed by Zeus, gives him advice and helps to distinguish between evil and good.
After Metis, Zeus married the goddess of justice, Themis. Themis is an ancient powerful deity, sometimes she is thought of by mother Gaia, the keeper of ancient wisdom and a prophetic gift. In classical mythology, Themis is no longer identified with the earth. She forever remained the adviser of Zeus, sits at the foot of the Olympic throne and conducts conversations with him.
The third - and last - the legal wife of Zeus Hera. The name Hera means “lady”, “guardian”. Before the battle with the Titans, the mother hid Hera at the end of the earth, near the Ocean and Tethys. Zeus found her there and, passionately falling in love, made her his lawful wife. Hera is an older deity than Zeus. In her character there are traces of an archaic, elemental, unreasonable force. She tries to defend her independence in front of her husband, they often argue among themselves, Hera has her own sympathies and interests. Hera is the patroness of marriage and family. She is jealous of the polygamist Zeus and pursues his lovers. This goddess is touchy and vengeful. She gave birth to Zeus Hebe, the goddess of youth, Ilithyia, the patroness of women in childbirth, and the god of war, Ares.
The marriages of Zeus bring harmony and reasonable beauty into the world. The goddess Themis gave birth to mountains from Zeus - the goddess of the change of seasons, regularity and order, and Moira - the goddess of fate. The goddess Mnemosyne, one of the beloved Zeus, gave birth to ten muses - the patrons of the arts and sciences. The oceanid Eurynome gave birth to a radiant harit, personifying joy, beauty and fun, meek Leto - the formidable and beautiful Apollo and the hunting goddess Artemis. The wise Athena was also born from Zeus, and according to some versions, Aphrodite. Mortal women gave birth to Zeus, heroes-winners of ancient monsters, sages and founders of cities.
Unlike the insidious, violent and unbridled gods of previous generations, Zeus stands guard over law and order. He himself obeys the judgments of the moira. The dictates of fate are hidden from him; in order to recognize them, he weighs the lot on golden scales, and if the lot of death fell even to his son, he does not dare to interfere with this. Therefore, he severely punishes all violations of the law - whether their offenders are gods or mortals.
Zeus fights evil, punishing individual "swindlers" like Tantalus or Sisyphus, and carries out the execution of family curses over entire generations of people.
Possessing the power and authority of an ancient primitive deity, Zeus protects morality and law - the foundations of ancient statehood. He is the patron of orphans, prayers, travelers.
Zeus is also revered as the guardian of the family and clan. He was called "father", "all-begetter", "father", "patrimonial"; wars prayed to him for victory, referring to Zeus: “military”, “bearer of victory”, and the sculptor Phidias sculpted Zeus holding the figure of the goddess Nike in his hand. In a word, Zeus is generally the protector of the Hellenes.
In more ancient myths, the elemental power of Zeus is brought to the fore.
The attributes of the supreme god are the aegis, the scepter, sometimes the hammer. The sanctuaries of Zeus were in Dodona and Olympia. In Olympia, in honor of this deity, the famous Olympic Games were held every four years, during which all wars in Greece ceased.
Cult statues of Zeus have been preserved, where he is depicted sitting on a throne with his attributes of power. The antique sculpture “Zeus Otricoli”, numerous reliefs of the Parthenon and the Pergamon altar depicting Zeus among the Olympians, the battle of Zeus with the giants and the birth of Athena from his head have come down to us.

Hades
Hades is the god of the underworld. The ancient Greeks imagined the afterlife as gloomy, terrible, and life in it seemed to them full of suffering and misfortune. Incorporeal shadows swept through the gloomy fields of the underworld, uttering quiet, plaintive groans. The river Lethe carried its waters to the kingdom of Hades, giving oblivion to everything that comes to earth. Severe Charon transported the souls of the dead to the other side of the river Styx, from where there was no return to anyone.
The golden throne of Hades was surrounded by terrible, gloomy creatures.
Hades is not sacrificed, he has no children, and he even got his wife illegally and by cunning. By letting her swallow a pomegranate seed, he forced her to return to him for at least a third of the year. According to Pausanias, Hades was revered only in Elis, where once a year his temple was opened and the priests of Hades entered there. The name Hades means “invisible”, “formless”, “terrible”.
Perhaps the only good creature that lived in the realm of the underground god was the god of sleep, Hypnos.
Hypnos is the son of Night and the brother of Death - Tanat, as well as Moira and Nemesis. Hypnos, unlike Tanat, is a calm and benevolent deity to people. He silently rushed around on his transparent wings and poured a sleeping pill from his horn. As soon as this god gently touched human eyes with his magic wand, people immediately fell into a deep sweet sleep. Even the great Zeus was unable to resist Hypnos.

Poseidon

Poseidon is one of the main Olympic gods, the lord of the sea. His wife, Nereid Amphitrite, gave birth to his son Triton, the god of the deep sea. Poseidon rushes across the sea on a chariot drawn by long-maned horses and measures the waves with his trident.
In the ancient Greek beliefs, Poseidon is associated with the earth - after all, it is the waters that make the earth fertile. This is also indicated by his epithets “landowner”, “earth shaker”, and legends in which he carved a source of water from the ground with his trident, and his embodiment in earthly animals - a bull and a horse.
As befits an ancient deity, Poseidon is vengeful, vindictive, violent. He considers himself equal to his brother Zeus and sometimes openly feuds with him.
The children of Poseidon were also distinguished by savagery and elemental, monstrous strength.
These are the violent and daring giants Sarpedon, Orion and the Aload brothers; the king of the Bebriks, the son of the earth, the strongman Antey, the wild and gloomy ogre Polyphemus, the king Busiris, who kills strangers, the robbers Kerkion and Skiron. From the Gorgon Medusa, Poseidon had the warrior Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus, from Demeter the horse Areyon, a monstrous minotaur born by Pasiphae, is also the son of Poseidon.
Mythical Scheria is the only country where the descendants of Poseidon lived happily and serenely, reigning over the people of skilled sailors, loved by the gods. Atlantis, where the descendants of Poseidon also reigned, Zeus punished for impiety.
Poseidon was revered as the deity of the sea and springs. Black-haired, sinekudrom usually sacrificed black animals, which indicates his connection with underground, chthonic forces. Sacrifices were made to Poseidon in case of disasters sent by God and were supposed to soften his anger.

Apollo

Apollo was born on Desol Island. About to be relieved of her burden, Leto wandered for a long time, pursued by the wrath of the jealous Hera and the serpent Python sent by her. Only the floating island of Asteria, deserted and rocky, finally gave her shelter. There, under a palm tree, Summer gave birth to twins - Artemis and Apollo, and from that moment on, the island firmly adhered to the seabed and became known as Delos, which means "I appear." The island became sacred, which showed the world a bright god, the palm tree became the sacred tree of Apollo, and the swan became the sacred bird, for the swans sang seven times in honor of the birth of Apollo; therefore there are seven strings on his cithara.
Having been born, Apollo demanded a bow, a lyre and wished to prophesy the will of his father Zeus. The "light-bearing god", Apollo approaches the sun - both destructive and healing. He can save the people from the plague, he is an intercessor and a doctor and has power over all healing herbs. A healing panacea flows from his hair, protecting him from illness. His son Asclepius is a healer so skilled that he brings the dead back to life.
According to legend, for this Zeus struck Asclepius with lightning, while Apollo killed the Cyclopes who bound this lightning, and as punishment, he had to serve on earth for a year, with King Admet. It was then that while grazing the flock of Admet, he received the nickname "shepherd's god", "protector of the flocks." Admet remembered that his shepherd was an immortal god, honored and worshiped him, and the flocks of the king prospered. As a sign of friendship, Apollo promised Admet to delay his death if one of his relatives agreed to go to Hades instead of him.
In general, the love and friendship of Apollo rarely turned out to be beneficial over mortals. His favorite, the young Cypress, died; mourning the death of a beloved deer: the gods turned it into a tree of sorrow. The young Hyakinthus was accidentally killed by Apollo himself while throwing the discus. From the blood of a young man he raised a beautiful flower.
Apollo received the gift of divination as soon as he was born, but according to other legends, things were different. After the victory over Python, Apollo had to cleanse himself of the filth of spilled blood, and for this he descended into Hades. There, having atoned for the guilt before the Earth, which gave birth to Python, he gained prophetic power. In Delphi, at the foot of Parnassus, where he killed the monstrous snake, the god founded his temple. He himself brought the first Cretan seafaring priests there and taught them to sing a hymn in honor of Apollo. The Temple of Delphi, where the Pythia sat on a tripod and announced the future, is the main sanctuary of Apollo. The Delphic oracle, along with the sacred oak in Dodona, where the sanctuary of Zeus was, are the most authoritative soothsayers of Greece. With her enigmatic predictions, the Pythia seriously influenced the politics of Greek ideas. From Apollo came a kind of soothsayers.
As a child, Apollo amused himself by building cities from the horns of fallow deer killed by Artemis. Since then, he has taken a liking to building cities. This god taught people to mark the ground, build altars and erect walls.
With all the variety of his roles, Apollo is best known as the patron of the arts. He is a musician, kifared (plays the cithara) and musaged (leads round dances of the muses). From him went to the earth a kind of singers, musicians. His sons are Orpheus and Lin. He is the organizer of world harmony, world order. Under the auspices of Apollo, the mythical country of the Hyperboreans, a blessed people, flourishes, spending their days in fun, dancing and singing to music, in feasts and prayers.

Ares
Ares is the god of war. According to legend, he was born in Thrace, inhabited in the representation of the Greeks by wild, warlike barbarians. Ares is bloodthirsty, violent, loves killing and destruction. At first, Ares was simply identified with war and deadly weapons. He is hated by both people and gods. On Olympus, only Aphrodite burns with passion for him, and Zeus curses Ares and threatens that he would have thrown him into tartar if he were not his son.
Ares is a formidable warrior, his epithets are “strong”, “huge”, “treacherous”, “fast”, “furious”, “crusher of cities”. The same wildness and violent militancy is visible in the children of Ares. This is the Thracian king Diomedes, who fed travelers to his horses, the heroes Meleager, Ascalaf, the cruel king Enomai, the wicked Phlegius, the tribe of the Amazons. In alliance with one of the Erinnias, Ares, the Theban dragon was born, from whose teeth militant Sparta grew - Jason had to fight them in Colchis, where he arrived for the Golden Fleece. For Cadmus, who killed this dragon, many generations of his descendants, the Theban kings, later paid with troubles.
Companions of Ares - the goddess of discord Eris and the frantic Enio - confusion; the horses in his chariot are Shine, Flame, Noise, Horror.
Ares had to endure insults not only from the gods, but also from mortals. The Aloads chained him and kept him for thirteen months in a copper jar - without the help of Hermes, he would not have escaped from there. The mortal Diomedes wounded Ares with a spear. Hercules during the war with Pylos put Ares to flight. But for all the hardships, Ares is rewarded by the love of the most beautiful of the goddesses, Aphrodite. From their union were born Phobos, Deimos, Eros and Anteros, as well as a daughter, Harmony.

Helios
Helios is the god of the sun, who gives life to all living things and punishes criminals with blindness and death. Son of the titans Hyperion and Theia, brother of Selene and Eos.
In a halo of blinding rays, with terrible burning eyes in a golden helmet and on a golden chariot, the sun god passes his daily journey through the sky. From above, he sees all the deeds of people and gods, even those that are hidden from the eyes of other celestials.
Helios lives in a golden palace with silver forged gates. Surrounding his jeweled throne are the four seasons, and flanked by Hours, Days, Months, Years and Ages. Phaeton came to this palace with an unreasonable request - to ride in his golden crown and on his fiery horses. But he could not keep the divine horses and collapsed into the sea. After the death of Phaeton, the day passed without the sun - Helios mourned his son.
On the island of Trinacria, the herds of Helios graze - seven herds of bulls and seven herds of rams, each with fifty heads, and their number is always unchanged. These herds symbolize the fifty-seven-day weeks that make up the year of the ancient Greeks, and bulls and rams are days and nights. The satellites of Odysseus encroached on the sacred bulls, for which Zeus, at the request of Helios, threw lightning at them and sank along with the ship.
The descendants of the sun god were distinguished by impudence and malevolence, as well as a penchant for sorcery, like Kioka and Medea.
Helios was often identified with his father, the titan Hyperion, and in late antiquity with the Olympian Apollo.

Dionysus

Dionysus is the god of vegetation, viticulture and winemaking. According to the main myth, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and the Theban princess Semele.
Because of the intrigues of the jealous Hera, Zeus had to appear to Semele in all his Olympic greatness, and Semele died in a flame of lightning. Zeus sewed the prematurely born baby into his thigh and gave birth again three months later. Therefore, Dionysus is called "twice born", and sometimes referring to Zagreus (the predecessor of Dionysus), - "thrice born". Zeus gave his son to be raised by the Nisean nymphs.
When Dionysus grew up and found the vine, Hera instilled madness in him. In a frenzy, he wandered through Egypt and Syria until he came to Phrygia, where Rhea-Cybele healed him and introduced him to her mysteries. From there, Dionysus went to India, planting a cult along the way. vine. The procession of Bacchus was accompanied by violence and destruction. Naturally, many did not like these Bacchanal orgies and Dionysus often met resistance. He was declared an impostor, then Dionysus showed himself in the form of a god.
The names of Dionysus are Bromius (“noisy”), Ley (“liberator”), Leney (“sower of clusters”), Evius (“ivy”), Sabazius, Liber, Bassareus. His attributes are a thyrsus (a rod entwined with ivy) and a goblet. The myths about Dionysus are reflected in ancient fine arts.

Hermes

Hermes is the messenger of the gods, the patron of travelers, the guide of the souls of the dead. Hermes - the Olympic god, the son of Zeus and Main, the daughter of Atlanta, was born in Arcadia, in the cave of Kyllene. Its antiquity is indicated by the name, which may have come from the word "germ" - a pile of stones. Such herms marked the places of burial, they were road signs, marked the boundaries. The destruction of herms in Greece was punished as sacrilege.
Having been born, the infant Hermes immediately stole a herd of cows belonging to Apollo. Despite all his cunning precautions, the prophetic Apollo guessed who the kidnapper was, but in response to his demands, the “innocent baby” only wrapped himself in swaddling clothes. When Apollo dragged Hermes to court to Zeus, he continued to deny, swearing that he had not seen any cows and did not even know what they were. Zeus burst out laughing and ordered the herd to be returned to Apollo. Hermes gave the cows to the owner, but he began to play the lyre so beautifully, which he made from the shell of a tortoise he had caught that same morning, that Apollo began to beg him to exchange the lyre for a herd. Hermes got the cows back, and instead of the lyre he made himself a flute, which he also gave to Apollo in exchange for his golden rod. In addition, Apollo promised to teach him divination. So, barely born, Hermes appeared in the world in all the variety of his roles.
Clever rogues, eloquent liars and thieves pray to Hermes.
Hermes is the patron of travelers, wanderers, he is a guide, he unlocks any doors. Hermes leads the goddesses to court to Paris, he delivers Priam to the tent of Achilles, invisibly leading him through the entire Achaean camp. The fleet-footed Hermes serves as a messenger for the Olympians, communicating the divine will to mortals.
Hermes is a guide not only on earth and Olympus, but also in the kingdom of Hades. He accompanies the souls of the dead to Erebus.
A side function of Hermes, which he shared with Hekate, is the patronage of the shepherds and the multiplication of the offspring of the flock. His son Pan is the god of the herds. Hermes was revered at the anthesteria - the holiday of the awakening of spring and the memory of the dead.
His attributes are golden winged sandals and a staff.

Hephaestus
Hephaestus is the god of fire and blacksmithing, the son of Hera. After the birth of Athena, Hera wished, like Zeus, to give birth to a child on her own without the participation of her husband, and was resolved by Gefes. The baby turned out to be frail and ugly, and Hera threw him from Olympus, which is why he later began to limp in one leg. Hephaestus was picked up in the sea by Thetis and Eurynomus and raised in a cave by the ocean. He forever retained gratitude to his adoptive mothers, and Hera took revenge - he forged a trap chair for her, from which she could not get up until the Olympians persuaded Hephaestus to forgive her mother. Later, Hephaestus even protected Hera from the wrath of Zeus - and paid for it: now Zeus threw him off Olympus. Since then, Hephaestus has been limping on both legs.
Hephaestus was famous on Olympus as a skilled blacksmith and artist: he built palaces of copper and gold for the gods, forged immortal weapons and the famous shield of Achilles, the crown of Pandora and the bedchamber of Hera.
On Olympus, the good-natured and clumsy Hephaestus entertains the gods with jokes, treats them to nectars, and generally plays a certain service role.
Hephaestus is the personification of fire, close to the elemental forces of nature.

Asclepius

Asclepius is the god of healing. When Apollo struck Coronis with an arrow for treason, he soon regretted what he had done and, unable to resurrect his beloved, already on the funeral pyre tore out the baby she was carrying from her womb. Apollo gave his son to be raised by the clever centaur Chiron, who taught the young man the art of healing so much that they began to worship him like a god. But when Asclepius began to raise the dead with his art and thereby violated the laws of fate, Zeus incinerated him with his lightning. According to some versions, Asclepius was later resurrected by Zeus and placed by him among the stars.
Asclepius was revered throughout Greece, especially in Epidaurus, where the sick flocked from everywhere for healing. A snake was an obligatory attribute of Asclepius, - with it he stays among the constellations. The most famous sanctuary of Asclepius is located on the island of Kos. The doctors of this island were famous for their art and were considered the descendants of Asclepius - Asclepids.

Prometheus

Prometheus - son of the titan Iapetus (Iapetus), cousin of Zeus; known as a theomachist who betrayed the gods and helped people. The mother of Prometheus is the oceanid Clymene (or Asia). In Aeschylus, however, Prometheus calls the goddess of justice Themis his mother, identifying her with Gaia - the Earth. The name Prometheus means "seer", "foreseeing". Endowed from Mother Earth with the gift of clairvoyance, Prometheus in the battle of the titans with the Olympians foresaw the victory of wisdom, not strength. His rude and narrow-minded relatives - the titans did not listen to his advice, and Prometheus went over to the side of Zeus. With the help of Prometheus, Zeus dealt with the Titans.
According to one of the legends, He Himself created people from clay - and also created them, unlike animals, looking up into the sky. Prometheus taught people crafts, customs, agriculture, building houses and ships, reading, writing and fortune-telling - all the arts people have from Prometheus. Thus, he led people along the path of technological progress, which Zeus did not like very much - after all, people, having learned to ease the hardships of life for themselves, became proud and deteriorated. But Zeus did not correct people, but to complete the evil he created Pandora.
etc.................

The ancient Slavic pantheon is very complex in structure and numerous in composition. Most of the gods were identified with various forces of nature, although there were exceptions, the most striking example of which is Rod, the creator god. Due to the similarity of the functions and properties of some gods, it is difficult to determine for sure which names are just variations on the names of the same god, and which belong to different gods.

The entire pantheon can be divided into two large circles: the elder gods who ruled all three worlds in the primordial stage, and the second circle - the young gods who took the reins of government in the new stage. At the same time, some older gods are present in the new stage, while others disappear (more precisely, there are no descriptions of their activities or interference in anything, but the memory that they were, remains).

In the Slavic pantheon, there was no clear hierarchy of power, which was replaced by a tribal hierarchy, where sons obeyed their father, but brothers were equal among themselves. The Slavs did not have pronounced evil gods and good gods. Some deities gave life, others took it away, but all were revered equally, since the Slavs believed that the existence of one without the other is impossible. At the same time, the gods, good in their functions, could punish and cause harm, while the evil ones, on the contrary, help and save people. Thus, the gods of the ancient Slavs were very similar to people, not only outwardly, but also in character, since they simultaneously carried both good and evil.

Outwardly, the gods were similar to people, while most of them could turn into animals, in the form of which they usually appeared before people. From ordinary beings, the gods were distinguished by superpowers that allowed the deities to change the world around them. Each of the gods had power over one of the parts of this world. The impact on other parts beyond the control of the deities was limited and temporary.

The most ancient supreme male deity among the Slavs was Rod. Already in Christian teachings against paganism of the XII-XIII centuries. they write about Rod as a god worshiped by all peoples.
Rod was the god of the sky, thunderstorms, fertility. They said about him that he rides on a cloud, throws rain on the ground, and from this children are born. He was the ruler of the earth and all living things, he was a pagan creator god.
In the Slavic languages, the root "genus" means kinship, birth, water (spring), profit (harvest), such concepts as people and homeland, in addition, it means red and lightning, especially ball, called "rhodium". This variety of cognate words undoubtedly proves the greatness of the pagan god.
Rod is a creator god, together with his sons Belbog and Chernobog, he created this world. Alone, Rod created Rule, Yav and Nav in the sea of ​​chaos, and together with his sons he created the earth.

The sun then went out of His face. A bright moon - from His chest. Frequent stars - from His eyes. Clear dawns - from His eyebrows. Dark nights - yes from His thoughts. Violent winds - from the breath ...

"The Book of Carols"

The Slavs had no idea about appearance Rhoda, because he never appeared directly in front of people.

Temples in honor of the deity were arranged on hills or simply large open areas of land. His idol was phallic in shape or simply made in the form of a pillar painted red. Sometimes the role of an idol was performed by an ordinary tree growing on a hill, especially if it was old enough. In general, the Slavs believed that Rod is in everything and therefore you can worship it anywhere. There were no sacrifices in honor of Rod. Instead of them, holidays and feasts are arranged, which are held directly near the idol.

The companions of the Sort were Rozhanitsy - female deities of fertility in Slavic mythology, patroness of the clan, family, hearth.

Son of Rod, god of light, goodness and justice. In Slavic mythology, he is the creator of the world along with Rod and Chernobog. Outwardly, Belbog appeared as a gray-haired old man dressed as a sorcerer.
Belobog in the mythology of our ancestors never acted as an independent individual character. As any object in the world of Reveal has a shadow, so Belobog has its integral antipode - Chernobog. A similar analogy can be found in ancient Chinese philosophy (yin and yang), in Icelandic Ynglism (rune yudzh) and in many other cultural and religious systems. Belobog, thus, becomes the embodiment of bright human ideals: goodness, honor and justice.

A sanctuary in honor of Belbog was built on the hills, turning the idol to the east, towards the sunrise. However, Belbog was revered not only in the sanctuary of the deity, but also at feasts, always making a toast in his honor.

One of the greatest gods ancient world, son of Rod, brother of Svarog. His main act was that Veles set the world created by Rod and Svarog in motion. Veles - "cattle god" - the owner of the wild, the owner of Navi, a powerful wizard and werewolf, interpreter of laws, teacher of arts, patron of travelers and merchants, god of luck. True, some sources point to him as the god of death ...

At the moment, among various pagan and native faith directions, the Veles book is a fairly popular text, which became known to the general public in the 1950s of the last century thanks to the researcher and writer Yuri Mirolyubov. The Veles book actually consists of 35 birch planks, dotted with symbols, which linguists (in particular, A. Kur and S. Lesnoy) call Slavic pre-Cyrillic writing. It is curious that the original text does not really resemble either Cyrillic or Glagolitic, but the features of the Slavic runic are also indirectly presented in it.

Despite the great distribution and mass veneration of this god, Veles was always separated from other gods, his idols were never placed in common temples (sacred places in which images of the main gods of this territory were installed).

Two animals are associated with the image of Veles: a bull and a bear; in the temples dedicated to the deity, the magi often kept a bear, which played a key role in the rituals.

Dazhdbog

God of the Sun, giver of heat and light, god of fertility and life-giving power. The solar disk was originally considered the symbol of Dazhdbog. Its color is gold, which speaks of the nobility of this god and his unshakable strength. In general, our ancestors had three main solar deities - Khors, Yarila and Dazhdbog. But Khors was the winter sun, Yarilo was the spring sun, and Dazhdbog was the summer sun. Of course, it was Dazhdbog who deserved special respect, since a lot depended on the summer position of the sun in the firmament for the ancient Slavs, the people of the tillers. At the same time, Dazhdbog never had a sharp temper, and if a drought suddenly attacked, then our ancestors never blamed this god.

The temples of Dazhdbog were arranged on the hills. The idol was made of wood and placed facing east or southeast. Feathers of ducks, swans and geese, as well as honey, nuts and apples were brought as a gift to the deity.

Devana is the goddess of hunting, the wife of the forest god Svyatobor and the daughter of Perun. The Slavs represented the goddess in the form of a beautiful girl dressed in an elegant marten fur coat trimmed with a squirrel. Over the fur coat, the beauty put on a bearskin, and the head of the beast served as her hat. With her, Perun's daughter carried an excellent bow with arrows, a sharp knife and a horn, with which they go to a bear.

The beautiful goddess not only hunted forest animals: she herself taught them how to avoid dangers and endure harsh winters.

Dewana was primarily revered by hunters and trappers, they prayed to the goddess to grant good luck in hunting, and in gratitude they brought part of their prey to her sanctuary. It was believed that it was she who helped to find in dense forest secret paths of animals, avoid skirmishes with wolves and bears, but if the meeting did take place, the person will emerge victorious from it.

Share and Nedolya

Share - a kind goddess, Mokosh's assistant, weaves a happy fate.
It appears in the guise of a sweet young man or red-haired girl with golden curls and a cheerful smile. He cannot stand still, he walks around the world - there are no barriers: a swamp, a river, a forest, mountains - The share will overcome in an instant.

He does not like lazy and negligent, drunkards and all sorts of bad people. Although at first he makes friends with everyone - then he will figure it out from the bad, evil person will leave.

NEDOLYA (Nuzha, Need) - the goddess, Mokosh's assistant, weaves an unhappy fate.
Share and Nedolya are not just personifications of abstract concepts that do not have objective existence, but, on the contrary, they are living faces, identical to the maidens of fate.
They act according to their own calculations, regardless of the will and intentions of a person: the happy one does not work at all and lives in contentment, because the Share works for him. On the contrary, Nedolya's activities are constantly directed to the detriment of man. While she is awake, misfortune follows misfortune, and only then does it become easier for the unfortunate when Nedolya falls asleep: “If Likho is sleeping, don’t wake him up.”

Dogoda (Weather) - the god of fine weather and a gentle, pleasant breeze. Young, ruddy, blond-haired, in a cornflower blue wreath with blue, gilded butterfly wings around the edges, in silvery bluish clothes, holding a thorn in his hand and smiling at the flowers.

Kolyada - the baby sun, in Slavic mythology - the embodiment of the New Year cycle, as well as a holiday character similar to Avsen.

“Once upon a time, Kolyada was perceived not as a mummer. Kolyada was a deity, and one of the most influential. They called the carol, called. New Year's Eve was dedicated to Kolyada, games were arranged in her honor, which were subsequently performed at Christmas time. The last patriarchal ban on worshiping Kolyada was issued on December 24, 1684. It is believed that Kolyada was recognized by the Slavs as the deity of fun, which is why they called him, called on New Year's festivities by cheerful gangs of youth ”(A. Strizhev.“ People’s Calendar ”).

The son of the Almighty and the goddess Maya, was a brother to the very first creator of the world Rod, although he was much younger than him. He returned fire to people, fought on the shores of the Arctic Ocean with Chernobog and defeated him.

Kupala (Kupaila) is the fruitful deity of summer, the summer incarnation of the sun god.

“Kupalo, as I think, was the god of abundance, as with the Hellenes Ceres, who is insane for the abundance of thanksgiving at that time, when the harvest is imminent.”

His holiday is dedicated to the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. The night was also sacred, on the eve of this day - the Night on the eve of Kupalo. All that night, feasting, games and mass bathing in reservoirs continued.

They sacrificed to him before the collection of bread, on June 23, on the day of St. Agrippina, which was popularly nicknamed the Swimsuit. Young people decorated themselves with wreaths, laid out a fire, danced around it and sang Kupala. The games went on all night. In some places, on June 23, bathhouses were heated, grass bathing suit (buttercup) was laid in them, and then they swam in the river.
On the very Nativity of John the Baptist, weaving wreaths, they hung them on the roofs of houses and on stables in order to remove evil spirits from the dwelling.

LADA (Freya, Preya, Siv or Zif) - the goddess of youth and spring, beauty and fertility, the all-generous mother, the patroness of love and marriages.
In folk songs, “lado” still means a dearly beloved friend, lover, groom, husband.

Freya's outfit shines with the dazzling brilliance of the sun's rays, her beauty is charming, and the drops of morning dew are called her tears; on the other hand, she acts as a militant heroine, rushing through the heavenly spaces in storms and thunderstorms and driving rain clouds. In addition, she is a goddess, in whose retinue the shadows of the dead march in afterworld. The cloudy fabric is precisely that veil on which the soul, after the death of a person, ascends to the kingdom of the blessed.

According to the testimony of folk verses, angels, appearing for a righteous soul, take it in a shroud and carry it to heaven. The cult of Freya-Siva explains the superstitious respect that Russian commoners have for Friday, as a day dedicated to this goddess. Whoever starts a business on Friday, he, according to the proverb, will back away.
Among the ancient Slavs, the birch, personifying the goddess Lada, was considered a sacred tree.

Ice - the Slavs prayed to this deity for success in battles, he was revered as the ruler of military actions and bloodshed. This ferocious deity was portrayed as a terrible warrior, armed in Slavic armor, or all-weapon. At the hip, a sword, a spear and a shield in his hand.

He had his own temples. Going on a campaign against the enemies, the Slavs prayed to him, asking for help and promising plentiful sacrifices in case of success in military operations.

Lel - in the mythology of the ancient Slavs, the god of love passion, the son of the goddess of beauty and love Lada. About Lele - this cheerful, frivolous god of passion - is still reminiscent of the word "cherish", that is, undead, love. He is the son of the goddess of beauty and love, Lada, and beauty naturally gives rise to passion. This feeling flared up especially brightly in the spring and on the Kupala night.

Lel was portrayed as a golden-haired, like a mother, winged baby: after all, love is free and elusive. Lel threw sparks from his hands: after all, passion is a fiery, hot love! In Slavic mythology, Lel is the same god as the Greek Eros or the Roman Cupid. Only ancient gods strike the hearts of people with arrows, and Lel kindled them with his fierce flame.

The stork (heron) was considered his sacred bird. Another name for this bird in some Slavic languages ​​is leleka. In connection with Lel, both cranes and larks, symbols of spring, were revered.

One of the main goddesses of the Eastern Slavs, the wife of the Thunderer Perun.
Her name is made up of two parts: "ma" - mother and "kosh" - purse, basket, koshara. Makosh is the mother of filled cats, the mother of a good harvest.
This is not the goddess of fertility, but the goddess of the results of the economic year, the goddess of the harvest, the giver of blessings. The harvest every year determines the lot, fate, so she was also revered as the goddess of fate. An obligatory attribute in her image is a cornucopia.

This goddess connected the abstract concept of fate with the concrete concept of abundance, patronized the household, sheared sheep, spun, punished the negligent. The specific concept of “spinning” was associated with a metaphorical one: “spinning fate”.

Makosh patronized marriage and family happiness. Presented as a woman with a big head and long arms spinning at night in a hut: beliefs forbid leaving a tow, "otherwise Makosha will spin."

Morena (Marana, Morana, Mara, Maruha, Marmara) is the goddess of death, winter and night.

Mara is the goddess of death, the daughter of Lada. Outwardly, Mara looks like a tall beautiful girl with black hair in red clothes. Maru can not be called either evil or good goddess. On the one hand, it bestows death, but at the same time it also bestows life.

One of Mary's favorite activities is needlework: she loves to spin and weave. At the same time, like the Greek Moiram, he uses the threads of the fate of living beings for needlework, leading them to turning points in life, and, in the end, cutting the thread of existence.

Mara sends her messengers all over the world, who appear to people in the guise of a woman with long black hair or in the guise of doubles of people who are meant to be warned, and portend an imminent death.

In part of Mary, no permanent places of worship were erected; honors could be paid to her anywhere. For this, an image of the goddess, carved from wood or made from straw, was installed on the ground, stones were laid around the place. Directly in front of the idol, a larger stone or wooden plank was installed, which served as an altar. After the ceremony, all this was sorted out, and the image of Mary was burned or thrown into the river.

Mara was revered on February 15, and flowers, straw and various fruits were brought as a gift to the goddess of death. Sometimes, during the years of severe epidemics, animals were sacrificed, bleeding them directly at the altar.

Meeting spring with a solemn holiday, the Slavs performed the rite of expelling Death or Winter and plunged an effigy of Morana into the water. As a representative of winter, Morana is defeated by the spring Perun, who smashes her with his blacksmith's hammer and casts her into an underground dungeon for the whole summer time.

According to the identification of Death with thunder spirits, ancient belief compelled these latter to fulfill her sad duty. But since the thunderer and his companions were also the organizers of the heavenly kingdom, the concept of Death was bifurcated, and fantasy depicted it either as an evil creature, dragging souls into the underworld, or as a messenger of the supreme deity, accompanying the souls of the deceased heroes to his heavenly chamber.
Diseases were considered by our ancestors as companions and helpers of Death.

The God of Thunder, a victorious, punishing deity, whose appearance excites fear and awe. Perun, in Slavic mythology, the most famous of the Svarozhich brothers. He is the god of thunderclouds, thunder and lightning.

He is represented as stately, tall, with black hair and a long golden beard. Sitting on a flaming chariot, he rides through the sky, armed with a bow and arrows, and strikes the wicked.

According to Nestor, the wooden idol of Perun, placed in Kyiv, had a golden mustache on its silver head. Over time, Perun became the patron of the prince and his squad.

Temples in honor of Perun were always arranged on hills, and the highest place in the district was chosen. Idols were made mainly of oak - this mighty tree was the symbol of Perun. Sometimes there were places of worship to Perun, arranged around an oak tree growing on a hill, it was believed that this way Perun himself designates the best place. In such places, no additional idols were placed, and the oak, located on a hill, was revered as an idol.

Radegast

Radegast (Redigost, Radigast) is a lightning god, a killer and a devourer of clouds, and at the same time a radiant guest who appears with the return of spring. The earthly fire was recognized as the son of Heaven, brought down to the bottom, as a gift to mortals, a fleeting lightning, and therefore the idea of ​​​​an honorary divine guest, an alien from heaven to earth, was also connected with it.

The Russian settlers honored him with the name of a guest. At the same time, he received the character of a saving god of any foreigner (guest), who appeared in a strange house and surrendered himself under the protection of local penates (i.e. hearth), the patron god of merchants who came from distant countries and trade in general.
The Slavic Radigost was depicted with the head of a buffalo on his chest.

Svarog is the creator god of earth and heaven. Svarog is the source of fire and its master. He creates not with a word, not with magic, unlike Veles, but with his hands, he creates material world. He gave people the Sun-Ra and fire. Svarog threw a plow and a yoke from heaven to earth to cultivate the land; a battle ax to protect this land from enemies, and a bowl for preparing a sacred drink in it.

Like Rod, Svarog is the creator god, he continued the formation of this world, changing its original state, improving and expanding. However, blacksmithing is Svarog's favorite pastime.

Temples in honor of Svarog were arranged on hills overgrown with trees or shrubs. The center of the hill was cleared to the ground and a fire was made in this place; no additional idols were installed in the temple.

Svyatobor

Svyatobor is the god of the forest. Outwardly, he looks like an aged hero, representing an old man of strong build, with a thick beard and dressed in animal skins.

Svyatobor fiercely guards the forests and mercilessly punishes those who harm them, in some cases even death or eternal imprisonment in the forest in the form of a beast or a tree can become a punishment.

Svyatobor is married to the goddess of hunting Devan.

Temples in honor of Svyatobor were not arranged, their role was played by groves, pine forests and forests, which were recognized as sacred and in which neither deforestation nor hunting was carried out.

One of the Svarozhichs was the god of fire - Semargl, who is sometimes mistakenly considered only heavenly dog, the guardian of seeds for sowing. This (storage of seeds) was constantly engaged in a much smaller deity - Pereplut.

The ancient books of the Slavs tell how Semargl was born. Svarog hit the Alatyr stone with a magic hammer, carved divine sparks from it, which flared up, and the fiery god Semargl became visible in their flame. He sat on a golden-maned horse of a silver suit. Thick smoke became his banner. Where Semargl passed, there was a scorched trail. Such was his strength, but more often he looked quiet and peaceful.

Semargl, God of fire and moon, fire sacrifices, home and hearth, keeps seeds and crops. Can turn into a sacred winged dog.
The name of the God of Fire is not known for certain, most likely, his name is so holy. Still, because this God does not live somewhere in the seventh heaven, but directly among people! They try to say his name out loud less often, replacing it with allegories. The Slavs associate the emergence of people with Fire. According to some legends, the Gods created a Man and a Woman from two sticks, between which a Fire flared up - the very first flame of love. Semargl does not let evil into the world. At night, he stands guard with a fiery sword, and only one day a year does Semargl leave his post, responding to the call of the Bather, who calls him to love games a day autumnal equinox. And on the day Summer Solstice, after 9 months, children are born to Semargl and Bathing - Kostroma and Kupalo.

In East Slavic mythology, the god of the wind. He can summon and tame a storm and can transform into his assistant, the mythical bird Stratim. In general, the wind was usually represented in the form of a gray-haired old man living at the end of the world, in a deep forest or on an island in the middle of the sea-ocean.
The temples of Stribog were arranged on the banks of rivers or seas, they are especially often found at the mouths of rivers. The temples in his honor were not enclosed in any way from the surrounding territory and were designated only by an idol made of wood, which was installed facing north. A large stone was also erected in front of the idol, which served as an altar.

In ancient Slavic mythology, this is the unity of the three main essences-hypostases of the gods: Svarog (creation), Perun (the law of Rule) and Svyatovit (light).

According to various mythological traditions, different gods were included in Triglav. In Novgorod of the 9th century, the Great Triglav consisted of Svarog, Perun and Sventovit, and earlier (before the Western Slavs moved to the Novgorod lands) - from Svarog, Perun and Veles. In Kyiv, apparently - from Perun, Dazhbog and Stribog.

Small Triglavs were made up of gods, standing lower on the hierarchical ladder.

Khors (Korsha, Kore, Korsh) - the ancient Russian deity of the sun and the solar disk. It is best known among the southeastern Slavs, where the sun simply reigns over the rest of the world. Khors, in Slavic mythology, the god of the Sun, the keeper of the luminary, the son of Rod, the brother of Veles. Not all the gods of the Slavs and Rus were common. For example, before the Russ came to the banks of the Dnieper, Khors was not known here. Only Prince Vladimir installed his image next to Perun. But he was known among other Aryan peoples: among the Iranians, Persians, Zoroastrians, where they worshiped the god of the rising sun - Horset. This word also had a wider meaning - “radiance”, “brilliance”, as well as “glory”, “greatness”, sometimes “royal dignity” and even “hvarna” - a special mark of the gods, chosenness.

Temples in honor of Khors were arranged on small hills in the middle of meadows or small groves. The idol was made of wood and placed on the eastern slope of the hill. And as an offering, a special pie "horoshul" or "kurnik" was used, which crumbled around the idol. But to a greater extent, dances (round dances) and songs were used to pay tribute to Khors.

Chernobog

God of cold, destruction, death, evil; the god of madness and the embodiment of everything bad and black. It is believed that Chernobog is the prototype of Kashchei the immortal from fairy tales. Kashchei - cult character Slavic mythology, whose folklore image is extremely far from the original. Kashchei Chernobogvich was the youngest son of Chernobog, the great Serpent of Darkness. His older brothers - Goryn and Viy - feared and respected Kashchei for his great wisdom and equally great hatred for his father's enemies - the Iry gods. Kashchei owned the deepest and darkest kingdom of Navi - the Koshcheev kingdom.

Chernobog is the ruler of Navi, the god of time, the son of Rod. In Slavic mythology, he is the creator of the world along with Rod and Belbog. Outwardly, he appeared in two forms: in the first, he looked like a hunched, thin old man with a long beard, a silver mustache and a crooked stick in his hands; in the second, he was depicted as a middle-aged man of thin build, dressed in black clothes, but, again, with a silver mustache.

Chernobog is armed with a sword, which he masterfully wields. Although he is able to instantly appear at any point in Navi, he prefers to travel on horseback on a fiery stallion.

After the creation of the world, Chernobog got under the protection of Nav - world of the dead, in which he is both a ruler and a prisoner, since, despite all his strength, he is not able to leave its borders. The deity does not release the souls of people who got there for sins from Navi, however, its sphere of influence is not limited to one Navi. Chernobog managed to bypass the restrictions imposed on him and created Koshchei, who is the embodiment of the ruler of Navi in ​​Yavi, while the power of God in another world is much less real, but still allowed him to extend his influence to Yav, and only in the Rule Chernobog never appears.

The temples in honor of Chernobog were made of dark rocks, the wooden idol was completely upholstered with iron, except for the head, on which only the mustache was trimmed with metal.

Yarilo is the god of spring and sunlight. Outwardly, Yarilo looks like a young man with red hair, dressed in white clothes with a flower wreath on his head. This god moves around the world riding a white horse.

Temples in honor of Yarila were arranged on top of hills overgrown with trees. The tops of the hills were cleared of vegetation and an idol was erected in this place, in front of which a large white stone was placed, which sometimes could be located at the foot of the hill. Unlike most other gods, there were no sacrifices in honor of the god of spring. Usually the deity was revered with songs and dances at the temple. At the same time, one of the participants in the action was certainly dressed up as Yarila, after which he became the center of the whole festival. Sometimes they made special figurines in the form of people, they were brought to the temple, and then smashed against a white stone installed there, it is believed that this brings Yarila's blessing, from which the harvest will be greater and sexual energy higher.

A little about the world order of the Slavs

The center of the world for the ancient Slavs was the World Tree (World Tree, World Tree). It is the central axis of the entire universe, including the Earth, and connects the World of people with the World of Gods and the Underworld. Accordingly, the crown of the tree reaches the World of the Gods in heaven - Iriy or Svarga, the roots of the tree go underground and connect the World of the Gods and the World of people with the underworld or the world of the Dead, which is ruled by Chernobog, Marena and other "dark" Gods. Somewhere in the sky, behind the clouds (heavenly abysses; above the seventh sky), the crown of a sprawling tree forms an island, here is Iriy (Slavic paradise), where not only Gods and human ancestors live, but also the progenitors of all birds and animals. Thus, the Tree of the World was fundamental in the worldview of the Slavs, its main component. At the same time, it is also a staircase, a road through which you can get to any of the worlds. In Slavic folklore, the Tree of the World is called differently. It can be oak, and sycamore, willow, linden, viburnum, cherry, apple tree or pine.

In the views of the ancient Slavs, the World Tree is located on Buyan Island on Alatyr-stone, which is also the center of the universe (the center of the Earth). Judging by some legends, light gods live on its branches, and dark gods live in its roots. The image of this tree has come down to us, both in the form of various fairy tales, legends, epics, incantations, songs, riddles, and in the form of ritual embroidery on clothes, patterns, ceramic decorations, painting dishes, chests, etc. Here is an example of how the Tree of the World is described in one of the Slavic folk tales that existed in Rus' and tells about the extraction of a horse by a hero hero: forehead red sun ... ". This horse is a mythological symbol of the entire universe